Just So Stories

Rudyard Kipling

Originally told as bedtime stories for Kipling's daughter Josephine, Just So Stories remains a classic of children's literature. Simply and beautifully written, with an entirely believable, far from cosy vision of the joy, wonder and dangers of the natural world.

Just So Stories

How did the elephant get its trunk, and the camel his hump, and who gave the leopard its spots? In the Just So Stories, Kipling set out to satisfy the 'satiable curtiosity' of his young readers with humour and imagination. The Elephant's Child wrestles with a crocodile on the banks of the 'great grey-green, greasy Limpopo river'; Stickly-Prickly hedgehog and Slow-and-Solid tortoise turn themselves into an armadillo to foil the predatory ambitions of Painted Jaguar; and the Ethiopian helps a Leopard to become invisible in the speckly shadows of the forest.

'For sheer intensity of imagination, vivid realisation, comic ingenuity, intuitive understanding and uncondescending delight in the child's point of view, (The Just So Stories) have never been and never will be surpassed' DANIEL KARLIN

Reviews

"This is a truly lovely book that we purchased as a gift for a baby's first Christmas.
As this wasn't for us I cannot vouch for the full content of the book, but the excerpts which I flicked through ..." [read more]

"This is a truly lovely book that we purchased as a gift for a baby's first Christmas.
As this wasn't for us I cannot vouch for the full content of the book, but the excerpts which I flicked through had been faithfully reproduced with lovely illustrations. The book came in a plain red slipcase which seems to far undervalue the fantastic stories contained within. Otherwise the binding was great and the book opens - at any page - with ease. This should help the volume last many years.
It is hoped that this book will prove to be a keepsake for many years to come, providing a child starting off in the world with many beautiful stories. Would absolutely order again - thinking of getting one for myself!" [hide full review]